Political goings on in and around Berks County, PA. This blog is not affiliated with the Democratic Party. All rights reserved.
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March 30, 2008

Rumor: Why Barack Obama is not coming to Reading

According to sources, after high raking members of the Obama campaign became "aware" of an anti Hillary Clinton blog created by the local Berks for Obama group. They went into damage control mode and decided to try and distance themselves from the local group, and not reward them for actions the campaign does not condone.

Now the question becomes, what was in the blog that caused the Obama campaign to back away from the local group? While this blogger was not given specifics, a quick look at some of the postings might give us a clue. For example: The blog linked to a website created by the same people that created the Swift Boat Vets website to attack Hillary. The blog has a posting that 70 to 80 percent of the electorate is to ignorant to be allowed to vote. My favorite is this statement from one of the founders of the blog:

"I always thought there was some dishonesty when Hillary moved to New York State just so she could run for the open Senate seat. It’s Cheney like behavior and very calculating."

Actually it's more like RFK behavior. RFK moved to New York to successfully run for the US Senate which helped launch his run for the presidency a few years later.

I could go on and on with examples, but I don't want to further embarrass the local Obama group.

Of course if Obama does come to Reading. It means that either this rumor is false or the Obama campaign does not care what tactics it supporters use to attack Hillary.

Comments

While I was unaware of this blog it doesn't surprise me at all considering some of the experiences I have had with their aggressiveness. I was a John Edwards volunteer and the day he dropped out of the race I received an e mail from one of their local leaders asking me to join the Berks For Obama group and help their delegates get elected. Now John had not officially even announced his decision yet! Around 9:30 am that morning CNN and the various news channels stated that John was going to drop out at a press conference in New Orleans that afternoon. I received the Obama e mail around 11:00 am and John's announcement wasn't until 2:30 pm. I know if the situations had been reversed I certainly would have waited a day or two to send out any e mails to their group. I didn't think it was very classy on their part. Also another time I had received several e mails showing Barack not holding his hand over his heart during the national anthem. So I sent it out to many of our Edwards members not really knowing what the story was. A few people wrote back that since it was the anthem he didn't have to place his hand over his heart. I immediately sent out a retraction and apology, but I still received an email from their group linking me to Obama's site showing his patriotism and I was accosted by two of their members after a county committee meeting, so I can only imagine some of the things they are saying on this blog. Besides feeling that Obama is not ready yet and will be an ineffective President and way over his head, the actions of some of the local supporters have turned me off also.

Would you (and your sources) really have people believe that Obama would pass up Berks and its hundreds of thousands of residents to distance themselves from what appears to be 4 writers on a blog?

Your closing comment suggests you haven't tried to confirm this information from your sources, which is IMO sloppy journalism. Don't you see anything wrong with publishing a claim that Obama's campaign would conduct itself in such an irrational manner without ever making an effort to confirm it?

How typical, shoot the messenger. The information came from (a) campaign insider(s) that wished to remain anonymous. Because the person(s) would not go on record, it is listed as a rumor.

Another FYI, the referenced blog was promoted in Berks for Obama emails and the Berks for Obama webpage as a way for the Berks County members to respond to perceived Hillary bias in another blog.

Berks County has about 110,000 registered Democrats in a state that has more than 4 million Democrats. Having or not having an event in Berks County is not going to make or break a campaign in Pennsylvania. Turning out your supporters on election day is far more important. At this time it appears that in Berks County the Obama Campaign is more organized for that effort than the Clinton folks.

Is that what you call an expectation of journalistic ethics and integrity--shooting the messenger?? Sorry, but you made an allegation, and a quite large one, by implying that Obama's campaign would operate in such an irrational manner as to avoid a major city because of 4 bloggers.

Whether or not the blog was listed in an email somewhere doesn't change the question of journalistic ethics and integrity in reporting a grand, unconfirmed rumor as you did.

I hadn't even seen the blog to which Auk referred until he posted this. I have no idea what lies and smears are being spread and by whom, nor do I want to become embroiled in somebody else's battle.

Surely you understand, John, ethics in reporting. Simply tagging a whopper like this as a "rumor" without making any attempt to confirm its merits or lack thereof is careless. Maybe the story intended to target these bloggers, but ultimately the story implies that Obama's campaign would spite an entire town because of 4 people.

Since I don't know what lies or smears are being spread, I can't make a comparison. If it is, as Auk hinted, via emails, I don't subscribe to any emails for Obama or anyone else. But more importantly, I think maybe you should ask yourself if lowering one's standards based on other people's actions typically results in satisfactory ethics? I don't think it does.

As it would happen, Sen. Obama DID come to Reading this afternoon, putting this absurd rumor to rest. But that doesn't change the fact that this rumor was published and had the potential to harm by implying Obama's campaign conducts itself in an irrational manner.

If you consider my remarks insensitive enough to ban me, I'll have no choice but to accept that. Just know that my criticism is intended to be constructive.